Are you a person that worries a lot? Do you suffer from anxiety? Have you ever been so stressed that you had an anxiety attack?

Ok – first I’ll be honest and tell you I used to worry a lot. I also suffered from anxiety at one point in my life and I know what it feels like to have anxiety attacks.

I no longer worry and I am very peaceful, so I thought I would share a bit about what’s happened to make me so tranquil and hopeful.

I think for most of us feeling anxious stems from a deep sense of fear. We may not want to admit that and we may not be conscious of being afraid but our persistent worried state speaks to a deep underlying issue which I think in my case was all about fear—fear of failure, fear about what the future holds, fear of being rejected etc.

How did I evolve from feeling worried to feeling peaceful, hopeful and safe?

I discovered how much God loved me!

At the beginning of my spiritual journey thirteen years ago I kept hearing Jesus say to my heart “Trust Me.” It wasn’t an order, just a quiet supplication from Our Holy Lord to enter deeply into His presence and get to know Him. It was at that point in my life that I began studying the Bible and I realized that I had a Saviour Jesus, that would help me and never abandon me. I realized I could count on Jesus to give me the strength and courage to carry my Cross.

I realized that my fear of failure flowed from a sense of insecurity and also from a personal identity crisis. I didn’t know who I really was or who I was supposed to be. And then Jesus took my hand and helped me to understand that He was there for me to help me to become the person that He wanted me to be.

I read these words from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah and I realized that they applied to all of us:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

I began slowly to understand the type of intimate relationship Jesus wanted to have with me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

This relationship between Jesus, the vine, and me a little branch, helped me to understand that I could trust in Jesus to provide for me. My job, though, was to ensure I did not disconnect from the source of His grace by sinning. If you have been reading my posts you know that I had a series of miraculous encounters with God that changed my life.

One of the most important conversations I ever had with God began with God asking me a question:

“What is love?”

At the time I thought “I know what love is”, so I replied to God “love is a feeling.” To this God said, “wrong”. So I asked God, “What is it then?”

God said, “Love is a choice”.

The Holy Spirit opened my mind to understand that love is a choice to honour God and in my particular case I was making way too many choices based on how I felt.

I began to pray asking Jesus to reveal His will for me and I began to feel calm, a calm that I had never before experienced. I knew I was in the presence of the omnipotent God who loved me more than I could ever imagine. I knew He had a plan for me and that I would succeed if I gave Him the ingredient He so desired—TRUST!

So many of us worry about insignificant things, but Jesus reminds us to stop worrying.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34

I remember in my early days of climbing the career ladder being focused on how I should dress for success. I spent way too much money on clothes. My husband on the other hand, from an Italian ‘foodie culture’ was always worried about ‘what are we going to eat today.’

As I shifted my focus on the things that mattered to God, I stopped worrying about temporal things and began to place my focus on eternal things, like my responsibility as a Christian to help Jesus save souls.

Jesus said to His apostles, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
As I began to truly appreciate the power of God’s love for me and His omnipresence, I stopped being afraid. I stopped thinking about how to be successful based on my own selfish definition of success and I began to consider God’s will and how I could please Him.

I discovered a very special calm, a deep sense of peace knowing that I could give Jesus my problems and that He would help me each and every step of the way.

I felt Jesus reminding me…

“I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

I live my life now, day by day, with a scrupulous focus on ‘what choice will I make today to please Jesus’. I am mindful that we don’t have to do extraordinary things to please God. Most of us are not in positions of great influence and power. We don’t have to have financial resources, societal status or worldly authority to please God. All we have to do is surrender our lives to Him, trust Him, be content with what we have and pray for His blessing and grace each and every day as we strive to do His will. And if we can do that we can stop worrying and rest in God’s tender care, for Jesus will never, ever abandon us.

A lot of anxiety and stress comes from being conditioned to believe that we need to strive for status, power, money and influence, but God reminds us to “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

Let us prove our faith, by letting go of our fears and renew our trust in Our Lord Jesus who never abandons His people. Let us consider do our choices prove we love God? Are we preoccupied with temporal things like career status and money or are we truly focused on doing God’s will?

Once I began to truly trust in Jesus and live in His presence I changed from being anxious to being calm. I rest now in the full assurance that God is with me always, with me to teach me, guide me, sustain me and help me to fulfill the plans He has for me. I don’t worry any more about societal definitions of success. The only thing that matters to me is pleasing Jesus.

Each day at 3pm, the time Jesus died for me, I pray for peace in the world, for peace in my community, in my family, in my life. I pray for God’s mercy upon all. I pray that we come to know how much Our Holy Lord loves us. I pray that all believers will stop to meditate upon the Passion of Christ daily, stopping at 3pm (in our local time zones) in remembrance of the great love of Our Saviour.

Jesus suffered so much to save us! Let us give Him our trust and our love and let’s stop worrying and believe in His infinite providence.

“But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” Psalm 52:8

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